There may not be a better “so close” team in college football than Oregon.

The Ducks have been right there.

They are 17-1 in Big Ten play over the last two seasons. Their only losses the last two years came to the last two national champions: Ohio State two years ago and Indiana last season.

Oregon has not been exposed. It has not been falling short against average teams. It has not been losing random games it has no business losing.

The Ducks have been elite.

They have just run into the one team that ended up winning the whole thing.

At some point, though, that has to turn into a title.

That is the standard now.

Dan Lanning has built one of the best rosters in the country. Oregon has the quarterback. It has the receivers. It has the running backs. It may have the best defensive line in college football. It has one of the most talented secondaries in the Big Ten.

There is no reason to be shy about the expectation.

Oregon can win the national championship.

Now the Ducks have to actually do it.

HEAD COACH

• Dan Lanning, entering year five at Oregon
• Oregon went 13-2 last season.
• The Ducks finished 8-1 in the Big Ten.
• Oregon is 17-1 in Big Ten play over the last two seasons.
• Lanning is 48-8 in four years at Oregon.

This is where the conversation around Lanning gets interesting.

There is no hot seat. There should not be a hot seat. That would be ridiculous.

He is 48-8 at Oregon. The Ducks are recruiting at an elite level. They have transitioned into the Big Ten without blinking. They have been one of the most consistent programs in the country.

But when you are this good, the questions change.

It is no longer, “Can Oregon compete?”

Of course Oregon can compete.

It is no longer, “Can Oregon handle the Big Ten?”

The Ducks have already answered that.

The question is whether Oregon can win the final game.

That is the only thing missing.

The offense averaged 35 points per game last season and 448 yards per game. The defense allowed only 18.2 points per game and 275 yards per game.

Those are championship-level numbers.

The roster is loaded again.

That is why anything short of being in the national title conversation would feel like a disappointment.

QUARTERBACK

The quarterback is Dante Moore.

That alone puts Oregon in the national championship conversation.

Moore completed 71.8% of his passes last season with 30 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He has the kind of arm talent and pedigree that makes NFL people pay attention, and he may be one of the top quarterbacks in the country going into the season.

But this is not about whether he can play.

He can play.

The question is whether he can clean up the moments that kept Oregon from being even better.

In Oregon’s toughest games last season — Texas Tech, two games against Indiana, and the rainy road game at Iowa — Moore threw three touchdowns and five interceptions.

In the other games, he threw 27 touchdowns and five interceptions.

That is the next step.

Oregon does not need Moore to dominate the teams the Ducks already outclass. It needs him to be at his best when the opponent has the athletes to make him uncomfortable.

Moore completed 75% of his passes in a clean pocket, but still threw seven interceptions in those situations. That is the part that has to improve. When he has time, when he can read it, when he has this much talent around him, he has to make the boring play if the big one is not there.

Under pressure, Moore completed 57.5% of his passes with three touchdowns and three interceptions. You’d love to see the TD to INT ratio improve under duress.

THE REST OF THE OFFENSE

The receiver room is absurd.

Evan Stewart is back after missing last season with an injury. The last time he was fully healthy, he caught 48 passes for 613 yards and five touchdowns. Adding him back to this offense is almost unfair.

Dakorien Moore is back after catching 34 passes for 497 yards and three touchdowns.

Jeremiah McClellan is back after catching 38 passes for 557 yards and three touchdowns.

That is a lot of speed, a lot of skill and a lot of stress for defensive coordinators.

There are not many teams in the country that can match that kind of receiver talent. And when the quarterback is Dante Moore, every coverage decision feels dangerous.

Play too aggressively, and Oregon can beat you over the top.

Sit back, and Moore can pick you apart.

The running back room is not exactly lacking either.

Jordan Davison ran for 667 yards and 15 touchdowns last season. That touchdown number matters. Oregon can move the ball through the air, but Davison gives the Ducks a finisher near the goal line.

Dierre Hill Jr. is also back after rushing for 656 yards and five touchdowns.

That gives Oregon two backs capable of carrying real work.

The offensive line has to replace some pieces, but it has a major anchor in Iapani Laloulu Jr., a Remington finalist at center. That is the kind of player you want leading a reworked group.

Dave Iuli and Teague Ferguson are also part of the projected front, and Oregon has recruited too well for the offensive line to suddenly become a major weakness.

The offense is going to be good.

The only question is whether it is good enough in the biggest games.

Because that is the standard now.

DEFENSE

This defense might be better than the offense.

That sounds strange when the offense has Dante Moore and that receiver room, but it might be true.

Oregon brings back a ridiculous amount of talent on defense, especially up front.

Bear Alexander is back.

Matayo Uiagalelei is back.

A’Mauri Washington is back.

That defensive line has a chance to be one of the best in the country. Maybe the best.

That matters because Oregon was already excellent defensively last season. Opponents averaged only 18.2 points per game and 275 yards per game. They completed just 51.6% of their passes and averaged only 5.5 yards per attempt.

The Ducks allowed just 155 passing yards per game.

That is elite.

And now most of the defense is back.

The linebacker group has Jerry Mixon and Teitum Tuioti. The secondary has Brandon Finney Jr., Aaron Flowers and Ify Obidegwu.

Then Oregon adds Koi Perich from Minnesota, who could step into a huge role in the back end after the loss of Dillon Thieneman.

That is the kind of addition that shows where Oregon is as a program.

The Ducks are not just replacing players.

They are replacing stars with other stars.

This defense has everything it needs to be dominant: pass rush, depth, length, athletes in space and playmakers in the secondary.

If the defensive line is as good as it looks on paper, Oregon is going to be a nightmare.

Because if you cannot block the Ducks up front, you are not going to have enough time to test the secondary.

SCHEDULE

The schedule is challenging, but it is manageable for a team this talented.

Oregon opens with Boise State on Sept. 5. That is not a normal opener. Boise State should expect to be one of the best teams in the new-look Pac-12 and could be a playoff contender.

Then the Ducks go to Oklahoma State on Sept. 12.

Oregon crushed Oklahoma State last year, but this version should be different. The Cowboys brought over a lot from North Texas, including the offensive mind and quarterback that helped that program reach the American title game.

After Portland State, the Ducks go to USC on Sept. 26.

That is the first massive Big Ten test.

After a bye, Oregon hosts UCLA and Nebraska, then goes to Illinois on Oct. 24.

Then comes a huge stretch.

Northwestern comes to Eugene on Halloween, and then Oregon goes to Ohio State on Nov. 7 for one of the biggest games of the season.

That is a national headline game.

A playoff-level game.

Maybe a Big Ten title preview.

After that, Oregon hosts Michigan, goes to Michigan State, and finishes at home against Washington.

The schedule has a few things that stand out.

First, there are no back-to-back road games.

That is big.

Second, the two toughest road games are probably USC and Ohio State, and they are spaced out by more than a month.

Third, the Michigan and Washington games are both at home.

That does not make the schedule easy.

But it does make it manageable for a team that expects to win the Big Ten.

OUTLOOK

Oregon has everything.

That is the honest answer.

The Ducks have a Heisman-level quarterback. They have one of the best receiver rooms in the country. They have two productive running backs. They have a Remington finalist at center. They have a defensive line that could wreck games by itself. They have one of the best returning defenses in the country. They have a coach who has already proven he can win at an elite level.

This is not a “maybe in a year or two” roster.

This is a right-now roster.

The best-case scenario is that Dante Moore becomes the best quarterback in college football, the receivers overwhelm defenses, the run game stays efficient, and the defensive line becomes the best unit in the country.

If that happens, Oregon can win the national championship.

The worst-case scenario is that Moore still has a few turnover issues in the biggest games, the offensive line takes longer to settle than expected, and the road trips to USC and Ohio State keep Oregon from winning the Big Ten.

But even that version is probably still a playoff team.

That is how high the floor is.

Full disclosure: I use AI tools to format my research into an article encompassing all of the information.